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- Title
- Uncle Sam protecting his property against the encroachments of his cousin John
- Description
- Print depicting Uncle Sam grabbing John Bull by the neck showing upset over intervention in the Civil War. Uncle Sam, depicted as a Union soldier closely resembling Abraham Lincoln, holds a sword labeled, "Principle of Non-Enterference." He pulls John Bull by the back of his neck who is poaching plants from a garden. John Bull is attired in a military uniform and cannons on his legs labeled, "Armstrong's Patent," referring to English manufactured weapons used by the Confederates. Standing on a fence post in the left is a cock with the face of Napoleon III, who watches the scene. In the background is an oversized scarecrow with a sign that reads, "All persons tresspassing[sic] these premisses, will be punished according to Law." The corpses of the dead bodies of Confederate general P.G.T. Beauregard and Confederate president Jefferson Davis hang from nooses from the scarecrow's arms. In the right are depictions of three African American heads, depicted in racist caricature, as cotton plants., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1861 by E. Stauch in the Clerk's Office of the U.St. Court of the eastern District of Pennsylvania., RVCDC
- Date
- 1861
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1861-39 [P.2023.61.2]
- Title
- Pap, soup, and chowder
- Description
- Depicts the 1852 presidental Whig candidate Winfield Scott, President Millard Fillmore, and Secretary of State Daniel Webster riding on the shoulders of newspaper editors. In the center, General Winfield Scott, attired in a military uniform, sits on New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley's shoulders. Scott holds a bowl labeled, "soup," which spills down Greeley's neck. A white man representing the South, pulls on Scott's arm who says, "don't budge another step towards the White House, yonder, until you satisfy me about my fugitive slave." Scott replies, "I will give you every satisfaction about your Fugitive slave after I have arrived at the White House." In the right, Daniel Webster sits on the shoulders of Courier & Enquirer editor J. Watson Webb and eats a bowl of chowder. In the left, Millard Fillmore eats a bowl of "government pap" while sitting on the shoulders of the New York "Mirror" editor. In the background, Franklin Pierce on horseback carries a flag that reads, "The Union and the Compromise" and travels towards the White House. A rifle and a knife lie on the ground., Title from item., Date and publisher from copyright statement: Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1852 by P. Smith, in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the Southn Distt of N,Y,, Text printed on recto: For sale at No. 2 Spruce St. N.Y. Address of Currier & Ives firm in 1852., RVCDC
- Date
- 1852
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department political cartoons - 1852 - 17W [P.2023.61.1]
- Title
- Arre st of the slave George Kirk
- Description
- Cartoon portraying the arrest during the New York case of the freedom seeker George Kirk. Kirk, enslaved by Georgia enslaver Charles Chapman had concealed himself on a Savannah brig traveling to New York City. While docked in New York, Kirk was discovered and beaten before being sheltered at the American Anti-Slavery Society office on Nassau Street. He had taken refuge at the office following his being ordered to be returned to Georgia on a legal technicality after having been previously freed by the court. In response, abolitionists including, lawyers Lois Napoleon and John Jay, editor of the "National Anti-Slavery Standard" Sydney Howard Gay, and sugar refinery proprietor Dennis Harris conceived a plan to secure Kirk's freedom through his concealment and transport from the Nassau Street office in a box addressed to abolitionist Rev. Ira Manley in Essex, New York. Kirk was discovered and arrested during the transport. Kirk was later freed through a legal argument presented by Jay. Depicts a horse-drawn dray labeled "D. Harris" on which Kirk, portrayed in racist caricature, is within a crate. Kirk is being pulled by police from the crate. "Tracts" fly out from the wooden box and its cover marked "Rev. Ira Manley, Essex, New York. This side up with Care" has fallen to the side of the dray. Kirk exclaims "Gorra mighty massa you take away my bref! dis child didn't come into de box hisself! de bobalitionists put him in it!!" White police men reach for him and make comments and threats, including smelling "a rat"; shaking "the life out of (Kirk)"; and the "Carman" having a "rather black job." The white carman, his hands on the reins of the horse and looking back, responds "It ain't anything else." Scene also includes a middle-class Black woman holding a parasol and middle-class Black man, who with a monocle to his eye, exclaims "Ponhona. Here's a game!! while standing near a group of white men abolitionists also witnessing the moment. The frowning abolitionists, including possibly Elias Smith, make comments and observations, including about Kirk being again "in the hands of Philistines"; having to take out "another habeus corpus ... at any expense"; and Manley being disappointed in "not receiving his consignment." Elias Smith procured a writ of habeus corpus for Kirk before his first court appearance., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entd according to Act of Congress in the year 1846 by H.R. Robinson, in the Clerk's office of the Distt Court of the U. States, for the southn District of New York., RVCDC, Clay, born in Philadelphia, was a prominent caricaturist, lithographer, and engraver who created the "Life in Philadelphia" series which racistly satirized middle-class African American Philadelphians in the late 1820s and early 1830s.
- Creator
- Clay, Edward Williams, 1799-1857, artist
- Date
- 1846
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1846-7W [P.2024.43.1]

